W7y8w3

United KingdomGCHQ: The NSA’s Little Brother... not so little anymoreOpen Rights GroupJavier Ruiz Diazwww.openrightsgroup.orgIntroductionThe documents leaked by the whistleblower EdwardSnowden show that the United Kingdom (UK)is collecting information on millions of innocentcitizens worldwide, in breach of human rights. Britishspies are also spreading malicious software,breaking internet security and carrying out attacksagainst protest groups, companies and other actorsthat are not terrorists or serious criminals.So far the attention of most of the internationalmedia and public opinion has focused almost exclusivelyon the National Security Agency (NSA),the signals intelligence agency of the United States(US). But the NSA operates a global surveillancemachine that relies on a network of key partnersranging from Israel to Sweden. First and foremostis its UK counterpart, the General CommunicationsHeadquarters (GCHQ).It is important that civil society organisationsthroughout the world concerned about mass surveillancebroaden the focus of their attention fromthe US and the NSA to include the UK and GCHQ.Below we summarise some of the key activitiesof UK surveillance agencies exposed by EdwardSnowden.Beyond signals intelligenceMastering the internetBut we are starting to “master” the Internet. Andour current capability is quite impressive… Weare in a Golden Age. (GCHQ internal document) 1The activities of the UK’s GCHQ are so inextricablefrom those of the NSA that from a certain perspectiveit makes little sense to treat them as separateentities. This cooperation started in earnest duringthe Second World War, and continued during theCold War, with Britain providing forward listeningstations in colonial outposts such as Hong Kong.1 MacAskill, E., Borger, J., Hopkins, N., Davies, N., & Ball, J. (2013,June 21). Mastering the internet: how GCHQ set out to spy on theworld wide web. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-mastering-the-internetBut the documents leaked by Snowden reveal manyinstances where the responsibilities of the UK can beclearly determined. For example, we know that GCHQscoops the personal data of millions of innocent peoplearound the world 2 by tapping into fibre optic cables thatpass through Britain. This programme is called Tempora,and it is described in detail in the thematic report onthe Five Eyes in this edition of GISWatch.It is shocking that a private NSA contractor likeSnowden had access to such an amount of informationon British intelligence, and it is certainly notthe full picture. Nevertheless, the leaks about GCHQreveal an agency pursuing global domination of cyberspaceby any means necessary.Hacking private webcam conversationsUnfortunately … it would appear that asurprising number of people use webcam conversationsto show intimate parts of their bodyto the other person. (GCHQ internal document) 3The programme Optic Nerve involved tapping intothe private webcam communications of innocentYahoo subscribers and collecting millions of stillimages, including substantial amounts of explicitlysexual materials. 4 The programme, apparentlyunknown to Yahoo, targeted 1.8 million unwittingusers in a six-month period without any form ofminimisation or filtering. The agency did this in orderto improve their facial recognition capabilities,with the metadata and images being fed into the keyNSA databases and its search engine, XKEYSCORE.US senators have launched an investigation 5into Optic Nerve, accusing GCHQ of a “breathtakinglack of respect for privacy and civil liberties.” GCHQ2 MacAskill, E., Borger, J., Hopkins,N., Davies, N., & Ball, J. (2013,June 21). GCHQ taps fibre-optic cables for secret access to world’scommunications. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret-world-communications-nsa3 Clark, J. (2014, February 27). UK spies on MILLIONS of Yahoo!webcams, ogles sex vids - report. The Register. www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/27/gchq_optic_nerve4 Ackerman, S., & Ball, J. (2014, February 28). Optic Nerve: millionsof Yahoo webcam images intercepted by GCHQ. The Guardian.www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-nsa-webcamimages-internet-yahoo5 Ackerman, S. (2014, February 28). Senators to investigate NSArole in GCHQ ‘Optic Nerve’ webcam spying. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/28/nsa-gchq-webcam-spyprogram-senate-investigationhas simply provided a boilerplate response aboutcompliance with UK laws.Psychological operations against non-violentprotest groups[15:42] we’re being hit by a synflood 6[16:44] I didn’t know whetherto quit last night, because of the ddos 7 (Anonymouschat room log) 8GCHQ has moved from collecting “signals” and generatingintelligence for other bodies, to proactiveaction, 9 now representing 5% of GCHQ’s “business”. 10This action ranges 11 from psychological warfare, suchas deleting a target’s online presence and spreadingfalse information, to hacking and disabling targetsystems through denial of service (DOS) attacks.A leaked catalogue of GCHQ hacking tools 12shows that they built specific software for manipulatingonline communications and behaviour, not justcollecting information. Among many others, these includetools to modify online polls, the popularity ofYouTube videos, and traffic to specific websites.It is particularly worrying that GCHQ considersas legitimate targets groups not involved in terrorismor serious crime, such as the “hacktivists” ofAnonymous. 13 Their chat rooms were shut down byGCHQ’s own hacking operations in 2011, called RollingThunder, with the effect of pushing away some80% of visitors. GCHQ has also targeted supportersof Wikileaks, 14 albeit in a less aggressive manner.6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SYN_flood7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack8 NBC News Investigations. (2014). The Snowden files: Britishintelligence agency describes attack on Anonymous. msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/snowden_anonymous_nbc_document.pdf9 The Intercept. (2014, April 4). Full-spectrum cybereffects. The Intercept. https://firstlook.org/theintercept/document/2014/04/04/full-spectrum-cyber-effects/10 NBC News Investigations. (2014). The Snowden Files: British SpiesUsed Sex and ‘Dirty Tricks’. msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/snowden_cyber_offensive2_nbc_document.pdf11 NBC News Investigations. (2014). The Snowden files: British SpiesUsed Sex and ‘Dirty Tricks’. msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/snowden_cyber_offensive1_nbc_document.pdf12 Greenwald, G. (2014, July 14). Hacking Online Polls and Other WaysBritish Spies Seek to Control the Internet. The Intercept. https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/07/14/manipulating-online-pollsways-british-spies-seek-control-internet13 NBC News Investigations. (2014). The Snowden files: Britishintelligence agency describes attack on Anonymous. msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/snowden_anonymous_nbc_document.pdf14 Greenwald, G., & Gallagher, R. (2014, February 18). SnowdenDocuments Reveal Covert Surveillance and Pressure Tactics Aimedat WikiLeaks and Its Supporters. The Intercept. https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/02/18/snowden-docs-reveal-covertsurveillance-and-pressure-tactics-aimed-at-wikileaks-and-itssupportersIndustrial-scale hackingGCHQ is a key partner in a joint system developedwith the NSA capable of attacking millions of computersin a semi-automated process. Quantum 15is a collection of tools that turn the global listeningapparatus of these agencies – dozens of bothowned and hacked computers and routers in theheart of the internet backbone – into an active cyberweapon.These are tools for hacking on an industrialscale. They analyse their target computers andautomatically deliver tailored malware that allowsthe agencies to control computers, including themicrophone and camera. These malware tools aresometimes distributed by creating fake Facebook orLinkedIn pages.GCHQ’s own legal departments appear tohave raised concerns about the legality of thesetechniques, 16 which are directed not just againstdangerous criminals, but in many cases innocent administratorsof computers networks and internationalmobile operators. 17 In a particularly scandalous case,GCHQ used these tools to hack into the systems ofBelgian telecoms firm Belgacom. 18Weakening the internetIn order to make it possible for the NSA and GCHQto break into thousands of computers, the agencieshave been actively undermining fundamental securitytechnologies, such as encryption systems. TheUK has its own programme to weaken internet securitycalled Edgehill. 19The revelations that UK and US security serviceshave actively sought to lower the security ofthe internet as a whole for their own purposes havecaused massive consternation 20 among the internettechnical community. There are concerns that cyber15 cryptome.org/2013/12/nsa-quantum-tasking.pdf16 Gallagher, R. J. (2013, December 12). GCHQ’s Dubious Role in The‘Quantum’ Hacking Spy Tactic. Ryan Gallagher. notes.rjgallagher.co.uk/2013/12/gchq-quantum-hacking-surveillance-legality-nsasweden.html17 Paterson, T. (2013, November 10). GCHQ used ‘Quantum Insert’technique to set up fake LinkedIn pages and spy on mobile phonegiants. The Independent. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gchq-used-quantum-insert-technique-to-set-up-fakelinkedin-pagesand-spy-on-mobile-phone-giants-8931528.html18 Der Spiegel. (2013, September 20). Belgacom attack: Britain’sGCHQ hacked Belgian telecoms firm. Der Spiegel. www.spiegel.de/international/europe/british-spy-agency-gchq-hacked-belgiantelecoms-firm-a-923406.html19 Larson, J., Perlroth, N., & Shane, S. (2013, September 5). Revealed:The NSA’s Secret Campaign to Crack, Undermine Internet Security.ProPublica. www.propublica.org/article/the-nsas-secretcampaign-to-crack-undermine-internet-encryption20 Schneier, B. (2013, September 5). The US government hasbetrayed the internet. We need to take it back. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/05/governmentbetrayed-internet-nsa-spying256 / Global Information Society Watch united kingdom / 257